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Bernard goes it alone with website

Premium indie Bernard of Esher in Surrey has bucked the downturn by increasing profits after launching a transactional website in collaboration with Farfetch.com, a company that provides an online ecommerce portal for 32 premium indies, including London’s Start and Maria Luisa in Paris.

Bernard, which has had a presence on Farfetch.com since March, has used the service provider to launch its own ecommerce site at Bernardesheronline.com. The site uses Farfetch’s technology platform but is managed and fulfilled by Bernard of Esher.

Co-owner Barrie Rapaport said: “Linking up with Farfetch gave the store great recognition and we felt the time was right to launch ecommerce under our own brand.”

Rapaport expects online sales will account for 20% of the store’s business by the end of the year. He is looking to hire a full-time website manager.

He added: “It’s very labour intensive to make sure product is photographed, merchandised and described correctly and that orders are filled quickly.”

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